He asked me to meet him on the pier after work. The moon was an incredible sight that evening.We had both stayed over at the office, as usual, and it was a little late by the time we got there.

We had been together for a year and there was a genuine closeness that had grown between us.But things had gotten harder lately;we were working so much, spending less and less time with each other.​Still, I loved him and I was optimistic about things getting better at some point.

When he told me, hesitantly, with great difficulty—that he felt things weren't working out​and maybe we should go our separate ways, I could actually feel my heart breaking in my chest.It was a strange, physical sensation.

No point in trying to convince him he was wrong, I instantly concluded for some reason--even though I wanted to try.

I walked back to our apartment. It wasn't far;I had parked the car in our space and briskly made my way to meet him.​Making my way back took a lot longer.He had left to stay at his brother's place for the night.

On my way, I thought with sadness about how people had come and gone out of my life,how nothing stays the same.​That was the way of things, of course; but I was feeling the loneliness.